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Autism Books

reviewed by Carol


Animals In Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior Grandin, Temple, Ph.D., and Johnson, Catherine. Scribner, 2005.

Temple's insight into animals is wonderful and she easily translates their behavior into words the rest of us can understand.

Autism: Explaining the Enigma Firth, Uta. Blackwell Publishing. 1989, 2003.

Here's a good book on autism viewed from the outside. What I mean by that is it gives good examples of observed behavior and theorizes on what is going on in the autistic child's head. This is another example of thinking of autism only in terms of children.

Emergence: Labeled Autistic Grandin, Temple, Ph.D., and Scariano, Margaret M. Arena Press 1986.

This book does a good job of describing Temple's school experience as an autistic person, and the development of her "squeeze machine" which gives her comfort. We also learn the importance of doors in her life. I had fun determining what parts were written by Temple and which by Margaret. If you pay close attention you can tell.

Thinking in Pictures: and Other Reports From My Life With Autism Grandin, Temple, Ph.D. Vintage. 1995.

Here we learn more about Temple's higher education, some of the work she does with cattle, and a little about how she thinks. This work is fascinating to neurotypicals and autistics alike. It's wonderful to see a work like this from an autistic adult.